Now that we are in the final weeks of December, I find myself looking back more and more wondering, how in the world am I making it through this year?! I think it’s pretty safe to say that no one expected to face the challenges we did in 2020.
For me personally, 2020 was the most life changing. Not only was it my first full year as an independent brand consultant, but I managed to get married during the midst of Covid (so incredibly grateful we pulled that one off!). That doesn’t mean we didn’t have struggles, though. We have experienced hurt of all kinds with loved ones and often feel the after-effects of what isolation can do to you.
With my husband also being my business partner, our schedules are very similar. We wake up together, work out together, eat together, work together… you get the point. We caught ourselves in this never-ending loop that was just slowly draining our productivity and motivation. We needed a change.
So, we came across this YouTube video from TopThink, called 7 Habits That Are DESTROYING Your Motivation, and it lit a fire under us with inspiration. It’s so easy to get caught in the day to day, sometimes you just need to be smacked in the face with some good ole’ common sense.
To summarize, the video talks to these 7 habits that keep you from operating at your best.
- Perfectionism: holding yourself to unrealistic standards by fear of failure
- Comparing: bringing on negative feelings of self-esteem based on what you see
- Procrastination: waiting for the perfect time to do your work and finding other things to do instead
- Multitasking: having your attention switch back and forth, thus not giving undivided attention to your task
- Distractions: allowing your brain to be susceptible to losing focus
- Saying Yes: by saying yes too much, you are neglecting your own goals
- Indecisiveness: having confidence in your decisions motivates you to work harder
Here’s what I learned.
- Productivity is Always Changing
Just because you have been productive or motivated in your past, does not mean that it will instantly carry over in your future. Being productive and motivated is an “always learning” mindset. Thinking you are safe from a lack of motivation will in fact make it easier to decline.
In my past, I would have considered myself the master of productivity. I ran a department working 10-14 hours a day and was forced to squeeze every single minute out for my advantage. Every minute counted. It wasn’t until after I left that lifestyle and started working for myself where I had to reshape what will keep me moving in the right direction.
Action Step: Find that low hanging fruit! Whether you are extremely productive or feeling really unmotivated at the moment, we all have things that we can work on. We all have distractions in our life and obstacles that cause us to take steps backwards. Identify what those are, and you’ll be on the right track to ridding yourself from them.
- Productivity Should be Prioritized
My past made me realize that productivity can only get you so far; your decisions, tasks and worth must be prioritized with your productivity. So, when I said I considered myself a productivity master by working long hours, I realized I was only hindering myself by prioritizing what others needed. While I may have been able to succeed at what others asked of me, I was not doing the things for my joy. I cut out important family and at-home time to increase the productivity of others, which inevitably lowered my motivation.
In fact, I’ve been so engrained to this idea that everyone’s work must come before mine, that I am still trying to find that right balance. I noticed that I put all my client work and deliver before even touching my own efforts. This causes businesses to remain stagnant, and I myself fell into that trap.
Action Step: Know your self-worth! Keep a schedule and make sure to add a mixture of tasks that encompass your tasks you need to do for others, your tasks you need to do for your business, some relaxing to-dos, and some down time.
- Confidence, Productivity, Happiness, Motivation: They All Go Together
If you are only focusing on your productivity, you are missing an important piece to the puzzle. If one of these feelings goes down, you can count on the others decreasing as well. Focus on you and success will follow.
Action Step: Use a 2021 planner that you can look through to keep your goals on track, keep a to-do journal close by so that you can monitor your tasks and check them off as they go, and reward yourself when you accomplish a goal.
It can be challenging to find the right balance between work and play, and motivation and relaxation, especially when we are told to stay home as much as possible. Sometimes we just need that reminder that we are on the right track. No matter the circumstance, I encourage you to keep pushing past what causes you to lose motivation and renew yourself with productivity for 2021.
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